Double-tier garage



April 8, 19.649

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DOUBLE-TIER GARAGE `Filed Dec. 16, 1966 ATTORNEY United States Patent Office 3,437,217 Patented Apr. 8, 1969 3,437,217 DOUBLE-TIER GARAGE Otto Whr, 43 Neuhaldenstrasse, 7015 Korntal, Germany Filed Dec. 16, 1966, Ser. No. 602,288 Int. Cl. E04h 6/22 U.S. Cl. 214-161 S Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A multi-level parking device with a floor forming a lower parking level and a movable platform Aforming an upper parking level including means for moving a platform from a vehicle receiving position to a vehicle storing position above the floor. The vehicle parking position is located at a height above the floor so as to allow for another vehicle to be placed on the lower level.

This invention relates to a garage with two parking spaces arranged one over the other in which the space for the upper vehicle consists of a platform positioned lengthwise above the lower space. The platform is movable and one end may be swung downward to receive and discharge a vehicle.

Automobile parking in densely populated residential areas presents a number of difficulties since space for conventional double-car garages is lacking. Aside from costly commerical parking buildings, there are garages in which two parking spaces one above the other are provided at the garages rear wall. This is done in a swivel fashion so that, by raising and lowering the platform, one or the other part of the garage may be used.

In certain cities there are building regulations whereby, to make use of valuable building space, garages are strictly -confined to the ground floor or the basement. Since the floor space of a residential or commercial building normally does not suffice Ifor all the tenants cars, costly underground garages must be built.

The object of the instant invention is a double-tier garage in `which two cars may be parked in a minimum amount of space one above the other. Each parking space may be used independently of the other. Such a garage would be inexpensive to build and install and could also be used as a double-tier basement garage. Since the space in drive-in basement garages is extremely limited, the downward swinging platform must protrude as little as possi-ble from the garage entrance so that the entrance remains free from maneuvering vehicles.

In a well-known two-tier garage shown in British Patent 666,884, the upper platform is made to move between upper and lower positions by means of parallelogram-shaped swivel supports. When a car is driven onto the platform, i.e. in its lower position outside the garage at the entrance, the garage entrance must have considerable height for the inward swivel of the platform over the lower car. This entails considerable expenditure in money and space.

According to this invention, the drawbacks of familiar two-tier garages would be overcome in view of the following characteristics:

(1) The height of the garage entrance need not be greater than in a normal garage.

(2) The height of the garage should be low and yet have enough space for entrance and exit of the lower car.

(3) The garage may be of a relatively small length.

(4) When there is a limited amount of space in front ofthe garage entrance for driving the car onto the sloping platform, the lowered platform should protrude as little as possible from the entrance.

(5) When the platform is pivoted downward, there must not be more than 18% rise in order to avoid the tail-end of the car hitting the floor.

(6) When the platform is in the upper position, the height above the lower parking space must be sufficient to allow the lower car to enter.

These requirements are met in a garage constructed according to the instant invention wherein the lower parking space is designed with an inclined floor tilted from the entrance in the garages longitudinal direction at a slope of about 20%. The pivoting platform is supported by yforward rollers near its front in a somewhat horizontal guide track at a distance above the foor determined by the height of the lower vehicle. Rear rollers are located in a guide track sloping about 45 or more to the vertical and toward the interior of the garage. The length of the track measured from the garage floor is determined by the drive-through height for the lower car and by the angle of slope of the guide track. With this building method, an extremely inexpensive spacesaving construction is possible. The inward movement of the platform, depending on the slope of the rear tracks, during the upward swing is necessary in order to allow room for the functional movements of a door hinged or on rollers above the garage entrance and to insure access to the lower parking space with minimum garage height.

From a practical standpoint, the rear of the platform serving as an ascent ramp consists of a plane surface whose length corresponds roughly to the average axle base of the cars to be parked. There is also a front plane surface area at an angle of between 5 and 10 degrees to the rear area. In the lower position of the platform, the ascent ramp must have no more than a rise of 18% to avoid bumping the cars rear bumper or exhaust pipe. If the car wheels are on the ramp, the additional front area can be made -steeper in the case of a very small garage length in order to come as close to the lower car as possible. This will still permit the necessary height for the lower car to drive through. The configuration determined by the various slope-angles of the platform offers an advantage in that the platform, in its upper position, is adapted to the slope pattern of the garage floor. This insures access to the lower parking place in gara-ges of particularly low height.

To move the platform, either hydraulic cylinders or a cable winch may `be used. Hydraulic cylinders may be installed either in the rear sloped tracks and rest on the garage oor, or they may lie in a rearward extension of the front tracks and rest on the rear sloping tracks. If a cable winch is used to operate the upper platform, its attachment will depend on whether there is a single garage or a group of garages set in rows, or whether two double garages behind one another with their entrances opposite each other is abailable. The Winches may be mounted either on the wall opposite the garage entrance or on a direct extension of the rear-sloping tracks on the garage ceiling. In the alternative, they may even be on an extension of the front tracks so that the supporting strength of the tracks and their mounting may be utilized.

The front and rear rollers on one side of the swinging platform are preferably installed at the outer end of a tube-like piece with an optionally closed section that is movably engaged by a longer tube-like piece fastened under the platform with a complementary sectional form. The two tube-like pieces are rigidly joined after adjustment of the roller base width to the side clearance of the fixed tracks. The platform itself, in the preferred form of the invention, is constructed with two reinforcing sections extending over their entire length open at the top and are spaced from each other. These serve `as mounting and support means for an attached corrugated metal panel with longitudinal pleats. The supporting reinforcement section of the platform forms a structure which in cross-section resembles a U-shaped trough that serves as a Water drain. The reinforcement section has on its outer side a raised wing serving as a side panel of the platform. This panel has a space bet-Ween it and the edge of the corrugated oor. Preferably, raised beads are provided in the area of the top of the upper pleats'of'the corrugated floor which serve as skid-protection for ascending vehicles.

The above objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent from the following description and accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 illustrates an elevation view of a garage according to the invention shown schematically in crosssection.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly FIG- URE l, a garage 1 has a sloping oor 2 with an incline of about 20% and a door opening 3 that can be closed by means of a door or the like (not shown). In the lower parking space a car is illustrated with its front end adjacent the garages closed rear wall, A platform 4 is shown in broken lines in its lower position and in solid lines, in its upper position. At its forward end (corresponding to the front end of the car) the platform 4 is supported on each side by a pair of rollers 5 which, by means of a common axle'6, can be connected with each other. Another pair of side rollers 7 are likewise located in the rear portion of the platform and are mounted on a common axle 8.

The front rollers 5 run on a pair of front rails 9, which, in an almost horizontal position, are permanently mounted either on the garages side wall or by means of appropriate oor supports shown in FIGURE 3. The length of the front tracks 9 correspond at least to the horizontal movement of the platform during its up and down pivotal movement.

This measurement amounts to about 80-130 cm. in a conventional form of the invention. The rear rollers 7 are guided in tracks which, according to FIGURE l, have a U-shaped cross-section having their open sides facing each other. The slope of the tracks is at an angle of at least 45 degrees to the vertical, whereas their length adjusts itself according to the height needed by the lower car. This takes into account the selected slope of the platform in its upper position.

The platform 4 consists of 2 tilted sections 4a and 4b sloping toward each other at an angle of about 5-10 degrees whereby the rear section serving as entrance ramp may not be steeper than l8 degrees, so that, upon entry, damage to the tail-end of a car may be avoided. Taking into account the optimum lengthwise swinging path in movement between lower and upper position, the slope of the rear tracks 10 is therefore correspondingly selected. The height of the front tracks 9 results from the required minimum height from the garage floor for the free passage of the lower car, and its length is determined by the sliding path of the platform.

The platform 4 in its upper position engages a limit switch (not shown) or lead screw limit switch on the motor which, in the case of a hydraulic drive, switches off the hydraulic pressure source for the hydraulic cylinders. In the event leaks occur from longer parking or greater loads on the hydraulic cylinders in the upper position of the platform resulting in the platforms sinking, the release of the limit switch will cause automatic refilling of the hydraulic cylinders.

The basic construction of a double-tier garage thus far described may be used either singly or in a row of garages standing next to each other, or even in garages adjoining one another lengthwise without dividing walls. Depending upon given conditions and taking into consideration special specifications and structural requirements, control of the upper platform must be as variable as possible, i.e. adaptable to prevailing conditions. In the modification of FIGURE 1 (where there are no garage sidewalls or where there are double-tier garages in juxtaposed rows) the rear tracks 10 have one end resting on the garage floor and the other end on a support 17a. The front tracks 9 are mounted on other supports 17 b, 17e` and 17d.

So that the builder may select the kind of drive mechanism he wants for moving the upper platform 4, the rear tracks 10 are given only a slight incline of about 45 or less, taking into account as far as possible the initially listed conditions. The slight slope of the rear of the rear tracks makes it possible to use eiLher a hydraulic cylinder carried in these tracks which presses the rear of the platform upward, or to hoist the front of the platformwith a cable line. A cable would be out of the question with a steeper slope of the rear tracks because of the unfavorable acting force.

According to the modification shown in FIGURE l, hydraulic cylinders 14 are provided as a rearward extension of the front tracks 9. These cylinders are attached by conventional means to the rear tracks 10. The front end of a piston rod 14a may be connected to a roller 5. The result is a direct action of force with reduced performance in pushing or hoisting the platform since the cylinder lies in the general direction of the pushing. It may be practical to arrange the front tracks somewhat sloping, i.e. with a slight incline toward the garages interior. Since the rollers 5 and 7 are thus permanently in contact with the tracks frictionally, simple angle sections may be used whereby the whole construction is made even less expensive.

What is claimed is:

1. A multi-level parking device with a floor forming a lower parking level and a movable platform forming the upper parking level, a first pair of guide means extending in a substantially vertical plane from and supported at one end by said floor, a. second pair of substantially straight guide means, means supporting said second guide means at a level above said floor, roller means mounted at spaced locations on said movable platform and being in operative engagement with a respective one of said first and second guide means for guided movement of said movable platform thereon, means for moving said platform from a vehicle receiving position with one end of said platform engaged with said floor to a vehicle parking position wherein said platform when in the latter position is located completely at a height above said floor, said height being greater than the height of the vehicle to be parked on the floor, said means for moving said platform comprising a uid powered means with a longitudinally reciprocal member, means attaching one u end of said power means to said rst guide means and further means attaching the reciprocal member to the roller means engaged with said second guide means, said power means and said second guide means being mounted in substantially horizontal alignment.

2. A parking device as defined in claim 1 wherein said platform includes a rear surface and a forward surface, said surfaces being at an angle of between 5 to 10 to each other.

3. A parking device as defined in claim 2 wherein said rear surface has a length approximately equal to the distance between axles on the vehicle to be accommodated.

4. A parking device as defined in claim 1 wherein said platform is at an incline of approximately 18% to the horizontal.

5. A parking device as defined in claim 1 wherein said lower level is inclinedabout 20% to a horizontal line.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,717,088 9/19'55 Morley.

FOREIGN PATENTS 903,307 I8/ 1962 Great Britain. 998,458 7/ 1965 Great Britain. 1,012,596 12/1965 Great Britain. 1,320,651 1/1963 France.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner'.

R. B. JOHNSON, Assistant Examiner. 

